Comment by Daniel Fiott published by Armament Industry European Research Group, IRIS - Institut de relations internationales et stratégiques, 12 November 2025.
As Europe accelerates defence reindustrialisation in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, an uncomfortable tension is emerging: the defence build-up is happening alongside legally binding climate targets and an evolving (and increasingly politicised) Green Agenda.
This ARES Group comment cuts through the noise and asks the question many avoid: is Europe’s green agenda a constraint on defence readiness or a strategic asset hiding in plain sight?
The comment examines how Europe’s defence-industrial expansion intersects with decarbonisation, competitiveness and strategic autonomy. Rather than framing sustainability as a moral or regulatory burden, it treats energy, materials and industrial processes as core components of military capability. The key insight is simple but powerful: defence production, energy security and resilience are already deeply intertwined.
Crucially, the paper moves beyond the duality - sustainabilityvis-à-vis operational efficiency - showing that greening defence is not about symbolism, but also a choice of efficiency, autonomy and operational resilience.
“Losing momentum on renewables and sustainability may hurt the European defence sector over the longer term, especially if it means avoiding a modernisation of defence manufacturing in Europe.”
In other words: slowing down the green transition doesn’t protect defence - it risks locking it into outdated, more fragile production models.
Main takeaways
- Defence and decarbonisation are not mutually exclusive. The defence sector accounts for a relatively small share of EU emissions, but faces major energy-security and supply-chain vulnerabilities.
- Energy dependence is a strategic liability. Continued reliance on fossil fuels increases costs, exposure and external dependencies - exactly what strategic autonomy is supposed to reduce.
- Industry is already moving faster than policy. European defence firms are investing in renewable energy, alternative fuels, energy efficiency and circular production - often for operational and commercial reasons, not only compliance.
- The real risk is under-modernisation. Diluting the Green Agenda may speed short-term production, but at the cost of long-term resilience, innovation and competitiveness.
This text is based on extracts from a comment written by Daniel Fiott (Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy, Vrije Universiteit Brussels) for the Armament Industry European Research Group's paper series on "Greening defence: Framing the stakes for industrial and military capabilities". To read the complete piece, follow the link here.
Photo credit from Tasos Mansour on Unsplash.